Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Haines City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 13,174 at the 2000 census. As of 2007, the population estimated by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida is 18,748. Haines City is the third most populated city in Polk County, Florida. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area.